# 119-hr-8389: Rural Area Population Act

119-hr-8389, Rural Area Population Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Ruiz, Raul [D-CA-25] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8389
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-8389
- Congress: 119
- Title: Rural Area Population Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-04-20
- Sponsor: Rep. Ruiz, Raul [D-CA-25] (D-CA)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Agriculture and Food
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Creates a single, uniform federal definition of "rural area."** It also lets USDA designate small, high-need pockets inside urban regions as rural when they meet specific poverty, farmworker, or infrastructure tests. - Residents in small communities that are inside or next to cities can become eligible for USDA rural development and related programs if the area is a census tract, a census-designated place, or an unincorporated area recognized by a local or tribal government with fewer than 35,000 people and meets the bill's hardship tests. - Farmworker communities and tribal lands can qualify as "High-Need Rural Pockets" using census-tract indicators like Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes and a poverty rate threshold of at least 20 percent. A "farmworker settlement" is defined where more than 50 percent of households rely primarily on agricultural labor. - Rural utilities and housing programs get aligned definitions through changes to the Rural Electrification Act and the Housing Act of 1949 so program rules use the same "rural area" term across agencies. - The Secretary of Agriculture gets rulemaking authority to implement the changes. The amendments take effect 180 days after enactment and existing designations are protected until 2030 census data are available.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Delay and protection for rural status: benefit, medium. The bill would take effect 180 days after enactment. It would require the Agriculture Secretary to write rules to implement the changes. It would also protect any rural-area designation made before the law's effective date from being changed because of this bill until data from the 2030 census are…
- New rural designations for high-need pockets: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary of Agriculture could call small census tracts, census-designated places, or unincorporated areas rural even if they lie inside urban regions. Areas must have under 35,000 people and meet at least one test: persistent poverty (20%+ in poverty in the 1990, 2000, and 2010 cen…
- New uniform rural-area definition: mixed, medium. This bill would change the legal wording that defines a "rural area" for USDA rural development programs. It would make the Housing Act and parts of the Rural Electrification Act use the same revised definition. If enacted, some places could gain rural status while others could lose it, so eligibil…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-2913: Ukraine Support Act
- 119-hr-7853: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-hr-5862: American Energy Independence and Affordability Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-8389 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8389)

## Related
- [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-2913: Ukraine Support Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2913)
- [119-hr-7853: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7853)
- [119-hr-5862: American Energy Independence and Affordability Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5862)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8389 (as of 2026-09-21).